Sight in question.

[Big Treble]

As a newbie, I've spend many hours at the range with pistols and rifles.....but not shotguns. So I'm good whith the fundamentals of sighting in, but embarrassing poor with the knowledge of shotgun trajectory or pattern changes at different ranges.

My thought was to sight in my pattern at 30 yards, so I would have minimal adjustments for birds at either 20 or 40 yards.  I obviously would determine my hold over/under at 20 and 40 as well. 

Is 30 the best yardage to sight in at? If not what is and why?

[CrustyRusty]

I sight in at various ranges up to 40 yards to see what my pattern is doing. You should not notice an appreciable difference in trajectory changes. Sighting in is fine at 30, but it's nice to know what your pattern will look like at 40, which should be your max.

[eddie234]

20 30 and 40, that way you know what your pattern will do. Mines super tight at 20 and opens up and is a tad low at 40. Shoot at BIG paper to see where your pattern really goes.

[dirt road ninja]

For what it's worth this is what I do.

Start with cheap 2 3/4" 6,7,8, or whatever you have on hand that's cheap and lead. At 15-20 yards "sight in''. Once your doped in @ 20 yards, shoot the same shells at 40 yards. My pattern is centered @ 40 if I did a good job at 20. Make any adjustments necessary to center that pattern. Then I clean my gun. Once clean, I run a shell that I plan on hunting with down the pipe and make any adjustments needed (I seldom have too). Repeat until your confident in the rig.
Now on to the second part of your question. In my experience, a good centered pattern at 40 will be good from 5 yards to 50 yards. Some where between 50 and 55 yards I noticed a drop in the center of my pattern.  I'm sure somebody with more "long range " experience using a shot gun can help more, but 55 yards is as far as I've ever tried on paper and I've only shot 60 yards once at a coke can on a stick. It had holes in it for what that's worth.
Keep in mind, I did this as exercise to simply know my shotgun better, I wanted to know my MPBR for what people consider an ethical hunting pattern. 

[Big Treble]

So i plan to shoot at all those distances.  But have adjustable sights. Wouldn't there be a difference in Elevation  between 20-30-40 yards? Or would my elevation pretty much be the same?  Again never sighted in a turkey gun.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[CrustyRusty]

Not enough drop to matter...

[dirt road ninja]

Not enough to notice. The pattern expanding will make up for what minuscule drop there might be. If you want to worry about something, go shoot a zero'd gun at 40 yards in a 25 mph cross wind. Yikes! Just don't sweat the elevation thing inside of reasonable range. You'll see what I mean when ya go to the range.

[Snoodsniper]

For what it's worth this is what I do.

Start with cheap 2 3/4" 6,7,8, or whatever you have on hand that's cheap and lead. At 15-20 yards "sight in''. Once your doped in @ 20 yards, shoot the same shells at 40 yards. My pattern is centered @ 40 if I did a good job at 20. Make any adjustments necessary to center that pattern. Then I clean my gun. Once clean, I run a shell that I plan on hunting with down the pipe and make any adjustments needed (I seldom have too). Repeat until your confident in the rig.
Now on to the second part of your question. In my experience, a good centered pattern at 40 will be good from 5 yards to 50 yards. Some where between 50 and 55 yards I noticed a drop in the center of my pattern.  I'm sure somebody with more "long range " experience using a shot gun can help more, but 55 yards is as far as I've ever tried on paper and I've only shot 60 yards once at a coke can on a stick. It had holes in it for what that's worth.
Keep in mind, I did this as exercise to simply know my shotgun better, I wanted to know my MPBR for what people consider an ethical hunting pattern.

What he said ^^^

[Big Treble]

Thanks guys, I was initially concerned about the drop.  Thanks for the tips.

Good info ninja


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk